 Who would you like to see as Edmonton&#8217;s next&nbsp;Mayor?
 Red, white, yellow or sweet onions? Which one should I&nbsp;use?
 The Quirks of&nbsp;Co-working
-Four MMVA nods for Edmonton&#8217;s Mike&nbsp;Maxxis">21</a></td><td id="today"><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/22/" title="What will the teams picking before the Edmonton Oilers at the 2013 NHL Draft&nbsp;do?
+Four MMVA nods for Edmonton&#8217;s Mike&nbsp;Maxxis">21</a></td><td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/22/" title="What will the teams picking before the Edmonton Oilers at the 2013 NHL Draft&nbsp;do?
 Jordan Eberle &#8212; If &#8220;regression&#8221; is the answer, what was the&nbsp;question?
 Might hot shot Russian prospect Valeri Nichushkin still slide to Edmonton&nbsp;Oilers?
 The Tax Implications of Marital&nbsp;Breakdown
-Alain Vigneault canned by&nbsp;Canucks
-Eskimos release Shawn Lemon, add a running back and one outstanding&nbsp;name">22</a></td><td>23</td><td>24</td><td>25</td><td>26</td>
+Mike Gillis puts the &#8220;can&#8221; in &#8220;Canucks&#8221;, ties it to Alain&nbsp;Vigneault
+Eskimos release Shawn Lemon, add a running back and one outstanding&nbsp;name
+Volbeat: Sept. 10 at Rexall&nbsp;Place.">22</a></td><td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/23/" title="Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: a first-line centre for the Edmonton&nbsp;Oilers
+Krueger gave the right amount of ice to most Oilers defencemen, but too much to&nbsp;Whitney
+Five travel gadgets you won&#8217;t want to leave behind (with&nbsp;video)
+The Edmonton Oilers lost the war in all three zones in&nbsp;2013
+Album review: Daft Punk, Random Access&nbsp;Memories
+David Belke and the complex nature of the&nbsp;whimsical
+The xx: May 22, 2013. Shaw Conference&nbsp;Centre.
+Shrunken, mouldy and damp:  tasty morsels from&nbsp;Parma
+Who were Edmonton&#8217;s greatest mayors &#8211; and why? A look back at a look&nbsp;back.
+Photos: The xx in&nbsp;Edmonton
+124th St. Grand Market reopens&nbsp;tonight
+More photos: Mumford &amp; Sons. May 22, 2013. Rexall&nbsp;Place.
+Amazon Kindle Fire HD available in&nbsp;Canada
+Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone breaks record with 10 million sold in first&nbsp;month
+Ralph Krueger did OK handling his centres, even Sam &#8220;Mr. Streaky&#8221;&nbsp;Gagner">23</a></td><td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/24/" title="Taylor Hall &#8212; Driving the bus at&nbsp;21
+Hey Ladies!!! The season finale is&nbsp;tonight
+The Edmonton Oilers only have one puck possession&nbsp;line
+Oilers look to sign Gagner long-term and say goodbye to&nbsp;Khabibulin
+Wine may be big business in Italy, but balsamic vinegar is the&nbsp;passion
+Farewell,&nbsp;Mandel
+This year at the Kids&#8217; Fest&nbsp;&#8230;,
+Far more Oilers got worse than got better in Krueger&#8217;s first year as&nbsp;coach
+The digital doctor is in, although Canada lags other countries in EMR&nbsp;adoption">24</a></td><td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/25/" title="Was Jeff Petry or Justin Schultz better at moving the puck for the Edmonton Oilers in&nbsp;2013?
+Shawn Horcoff is still an important player for the Edmonton&nbsp;Oilers
+Oilers had way too many black holes on the wing this&nbsp;season">25</a></td><td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/26/" title="Ales Hemsky suffered with health, productivity issues in subpar 2013&nbsp;campaign
+Getting down and doughy with Italian chefs on Edmonton Journal food&nbsp;tour">26</a></td>
 	</tr>
 	<tr>
-		<td>27</td><td>28</td><td>29</td><td>30</td><td>31</td>
+		<td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/27/" title="Two days of Sonic Boom with&nbsp;&#8230;
+Fedun, Marincin and others can help MacTavish play his puck possession&nbsp;game
+Bench Press: Texting with&nbsp;Telus
+Should Craig MacTavish deep-six the bottom&nbsp;six?
+Bissell Centre Innovating Again: Moonlight Bay Centre is Open for&nbsp;Business
+Yegalicious: Energetic&nbsp;Action
+Rajala, Arcobello and Hartikainen could bring real skill to Oilers fourth&nbsp;line.
+From Umbria to Rome:  what a difference a day&nbsp;makes
+
+Google Glass demo:&nbsp;Podcast">27</a></td><td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/28/" title="Does Ryan Smyth have anything left to give the Edmonton&nbsp;Oilers?
+How do I grill asparagus evenly without it rolling all over the&nbsp;place?
+8 Essential Tips for Social Media&nbsp;Etiquette
+Rock ’n’ Roll Diary &#8211; An Oral History of the Making of Less Art, More Pop, by Jr. Gone&nbsp;Wild.
+2o13.o5.26 ~ goose&nbsp;magnet
+Groove Stone opens in City Centre&nbsp;Mall">28</a></td><td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/29/" title="The Edmonton Oilers are picking just outside the top-tier of the 2013 NHL&nbsp;Draft
+Nail Yakupov gave Oilers fans cause for celly during a memorable rookie&nbsp;season
+Oilers farm club more of a real team without Hall, Schultz, Eberle and&nbsp;RNH
+U.S. half-miler Nick Symmonds latest to confirm he&#8217;ll be at Foote Field for&nbsp;EITC
+How much can my landlord charge for a security&nbsp;deposit?
+It&#8217;s time to move Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky, Hockey Night in Canada&#8217;s Craig Simpson&nbsp;says
+Eskimos sign three before training camp&nbsp;opens
+Boxer displays touch of class ahead of Friday fight&nbsp;card
+Searching for the perfect bite in&nbsp;Rome">29</a></td><td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/30/" title="Magnus Paajarvi may have played his way into the Edmonton Oilers’&nbsp;plans
+Could Linus Omark return to the Edmonton&nbsp;Oilers?
+Ed Hervey and Kavis Reed on race, football and Canada (not necessarily in that&nbsp;order)
+Sunday&nbsp;Markets
+Classified, Colin James will perform on new stage at&nbsp;K-Days
+Edmonton Oilers sign defenceman Anton&nbsp;Belov
+Eskimos sign most of their 2013 draft&nbsp;picks
+Album review: Mikey Maybe&#8217;s Honey +&nbsp;Bread
+Paul Maurice &#8220;reportedly&#8221; interviewed by Oilers for associate coaching position &#8212; Bob&nbsp;McKenzie
+Choosing the right ereader for you: 6&nbsp;Tips">30</a></td><td><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/05/31/" title="Free agent goalie Antti Raanta expected to make decision on his future&nbsp;soon
+New Jersey Devils working hard to re-sign David&nbsp;Clarkson
+Eric Belanger&#8217;s struggles continued through a second poor year in&nbsp;Edmonton
+Edmonton Oilers not likely to get an excellent player with 7th overall&nbsp;selection
+Gigs: Loretta Lynn, Nana&nbsp;Mouskouri
+Ex-capades: Getting real with Cadence&nbsp;Weapon
+Capitol Couture, The Hunger Games&#8217; fashion blog, is all sorts of&nbsp;cool
+Hiring an associate coach on Edmonton Oilers&#8217;&nbsp;radar
+The Communication&nbsp;Shift
+Yet another indie label discovers an Edmonton treasure: Travis&nbsp;Bretzer">31</a></td>
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						<p>The expected happened this afternoon when Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis announced that coach Alain Vigneault and staff have been dismissed.</p>
<p>Vigneault had a great run in Vancouver, winning the Jack Adams Award his first year behind the bench and setting a high standard that he maintained throughout his stay in VanCity. &#8220;AV&#8221; coached the Canucks to six division titles in his seven years behind the bench, including the last five in a row. That regular-season success wasn&#8217;t just limited to the at-toimes feeble Northwest, as Vancouver won back-to-back Presidents&#8217; Trophies in 2010-11 and 2011-12. In 540 games over seven years, Vigneault&#8217;s squad posted an impressive 313-170-57 record for a .632 points percentage over that extended tenure.</p>
<p>Alas, things didn&#8217;t go so well in the post-season, where Vigneault&#8217;s crew posted just a 33-35 record (.485) and a single Western Conference pennant in 2011. Despite persistent home ice advantage, AV&#8217;s crew won 6 series and lost 6 over 6 playoff years. For Mike Gillis that was the number of the beast, apparently, as he deemed it time for a fresh voice in the room. Who knows, maybe it <em>is </em>time, these things do seem to have cycles and best before dates, and judging by Vancouver&#8217;s rapid exits from the past two post-seasons, maybe the message was no longer seeping though.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s just say that Gillis will be hard-pressed to find a better coach to replace Vigneault, who immediately goes on the short list of every team looking for a coach. Such is the nature of the coaching biz, whose motto is surely &#8220;hired to be fired&#8221;. Fortunately for proven career coaches like Alain Vigneault, the converse &#8220;fired to be re-hired&#8221; is a certain bet.</p>
<p>Vigneault has a deserved rep as an excellent defensive coach with a willingness to innovate. His experiments with Zone Starts are testament to that, as his extreme deployments of Henrik Sedin and Manny Malhotra set new benchmarks in that strategem.</p>
<p>One could argue that Gillis didn&#8217;t exactly deal him a fair hand in 2012-13 when he failed to resolve the goaltending issue, tying up nearly $10 MM in cap hit in the crease while ensuring ongoing discord and controversy. Meanwhile, the Canucks struggled to replace the retired Malhotra or the injured Ryan Kesler or the traded Cody Hodgson, leaving a hole in the donut on way too many lines on way too many nights. When your second highest scoring centre has 13 points, I&#8217;m not sure that&#8217;s on the coach. Nor is it the coach&#8217;s fault when his backup goalie makes double the money of his active #2-3-4 pivots combined.</p>
<p>Still, it&#8217;s axiomatic that the GM hires the coach and not the other way round, so no matter who is responsible, the axe is bound to fall on several coaches for every GM that gets the boot. Like so many GMs in so many cities, Gillis gets a do-over, even as his own performance comes increasingly under the microscope. (Zack Kassian? Really?)<br />
<em></em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>More to come.</p>
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						<dl class="tags"><dt>Tags:</dt><dd><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/tag/alain-vigneault/" rel="tag">alain vigneault</a>,</dd><dd><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/tag/mike-gillis/" rel="tag">Mike Gillis</a>,</dd><dd><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/tag/presidents-trophy/" rel="tag">President's Trophy</a>,</dd><dd><a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/tag/vancouver-canucks/" rel="tag">Vancouver Canucks</a></dd></dl>					</div>
					
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